genderrr

ever since i found out i was pregnant, there was one thing on my mind (well 400)... a gender revealing party. mostly because i love a good excuse for a party, and otherly (not a word) because of how exciting it is to share something like that with your community! it's an idea that i stole from another blog or something that i read..i couldn't resist doing it.

so on April 11th, our wonderful friend, Dana will be the first to find out about what the gender of our child is.. and she will bake a cake, and that cake will be either pink or blue on the inside, and on the outside it will be white.

And on a Monday night, we shall cut it, and be happy if its a girl, and happy if its a boy.
and its not that we think everyone else will be as interested or excited about it, but we just think that when there are big moments in your life, you should celebrate with those you love.

I've got the joy joy joy..

I'm offering 15% off of this print today.
It's available in the shop.
Just enter the code; JOY in the notes to seller upon checking out.

and yes, i'm feeling joyful today. yesterday was the first real day that I felt the little nugget kick. it's a first for me to me... to be kicked and actually like it.

now, go get yourself that deal of a print!
offer ends tomorrow at 7AM

bearded man

As I was creating this illustration for a portland card to sell in shops around town i was reminded of my husband's beard, and how he has it not for fashion's sake, or even because he's a lazy man. no, he has it out of necessity. for if he were to shave it off, it would be one bad day in the life of the nelson marriage.

you see, it all started on our honeymoon. there we were, tucked away in a cabin.. and i said, "hey, how about you shave your beard? I've never seen you clean shaven." because that's what people do on honeymoons, right?!
so he shaved. and i cried.
instantly...

i know, i know. it sounds super shallow of me, but at the time all i could think was, "what did i do?" "who is this new guy i just married?"

let's just say it took a few days for me to adjust.
and to this day my man has a scruffy face.. and i like it :)
anyone else with me on this, or am i alone in my insecurity?

Our kid has a big forehead

the other day i found an email in my inbox stating that it could predict what our future child will look like. i had a few minutes before a friend was coming over, so I thought, "why not?"

looks like big hats and egghead jokes are in our child's future.
but we'll love him/her all the same.
ps- we find the gender out on April 11th!

and the winner is...

Ms. Megan shoot me an email and let's get started! But everyone else, don't be sad, you get 10% off any custom work you'd like to have created for your blog. So shoot me an email too!
happy weekending, friends !

vitamin D

sometimes, i wish i lived in phoenix.

instead of portland.
anyone else miss vitamin D?

Blog Banner Giveaway!

sometimes i make blog banners. see here?
And it's been awhile since I did a giveaway, so I thought it was about time to do so.

So ladies and gents, leave a comment about why you'd want a new blog banner, Giveaway ends Friday morning (3/25). For extra entries: blog tweet or facebook this [leave an extra comment for each].

[giveaway is for one custom blog banner with one revision, $45 value]

i sincerely hope you win :)

saving the dates

a little illustration I did this morning while the sun flooded through.
customizable as always..

maybe a possible save that date to be in the shop soon, what do you think?

happy st. patrick's day!

hey all you Irish people, happy day to you.
and all of your who aren't as well :)

have a most enjoyable day and evening, most importantly be safe.

ps- i feel a giveaway coming on soon, just sayin... stay tuned!

delighted!

on friday i logged into twitter and saw that minted had chosen their winners for the February Design Challenge. I nervously scrolled through the winners thinking maybe mine would come up next, it didn't

so i sent the email that every wife sends her husband after a crushing defeat, "I didn't win" sad face emoticon.

but the skies did clear and not even an hour later, I received an email that said that my designs all were picked as winners! every.single.one.

what a blessing.
so, soon you will be able to purchase a few of my designs on minted.com, and big step for this little buffalo

chin up

with all of the hard stuff in life, its important to remember to keep your chin up.
even when it wants to go down, down down..

new stuff!

if you are the lucky one throwing a behbeh shower for someone soon, think about sending out these new baby shower invitations that are now available in the shop!

little lion invites
&
urban village invites

make believe

here is the product from my day yesterday. in which i wanted to be creative in every which way, but for some reason wasn't finding it. and then around 4pm it came, creativity.

my way of showing that even when you feel like its at the tip of your tounge and you can't get it out, its still there, and it will find its way out, some way or another :)

ps- i hope to have it in my shop soon!

sounding board

photo: Lucas Benjamin Sharp

if i may, just for a second, sound off about something that my mind has been chewing on for a few days now... you see, we are capable of so much more. not to say that we have more work set out for us, or that we have obligations that we need to live up to. its not that.

but we have such potential for great things, and we are hardly aware of it.
i think i came upon this thought today the hardest. i thought to myself, "hey i better jump on the internet so that i can make more people aware of what fun things i'm making". "I better tweet the heck out of my new stationery, blog about my newest cards, and really show my stuff"

i had an epiphany though.. what if instead of trying to force people to like my stuff, instead i just honed in my skills to develop things that do the talking themselves? what if i inched my potential just a little bit further so that i felt really blessed and good about what i created?

i think we all have gifts, & maybe yours is marketing and if so that is great. but i think that all of us have creativity and the ability to step out of the box. and this is true not just in the handmade goods we are making, but also in our relationships. how we interact with out neighbors, what we say to our spouses, the way we spend our evenings with our kids.

all that to say, i think i will start with myself, and make today a creative one.
what do you think?

new stationery line

i've been developing a line of stationery the past few days.
its something that i've always loved, being able to drop a note with a little initial on it, or a little signature stamp. but the question is, would you use something like this?
now available in the shop!

honest nate

the resemblance is uncanny, no?
well, some days he can really look like the 16th President of the United States.
Although, I think his face describes exactly how he feels about the whole idea.
tell me, do you have any look-a-likes?

new card in the shop!

it was about time for me to put a new card in the shop...
it features an angry little fox saying "oh cuss."
good to send to a friend who's had a bad day.

bah bah bah baaaby bump

this will probably be the first out of a total of two times that i will post a bump picture on here. so, there you have it... its not that I don't want you all to be privy to the expanding waistline that i am embarking upon. its more because i remember what it was like to look at pictures like these when i was struggling to get pregnant, and although i was always happy for the person, it still didn't help my little heart. fair enough?

and on that note, if ANYONE is struggling with infertility, and you want to talk, let me know..
it can be a scary and confusing place to be. but the load is lighter if you can talk about. Lord knows that if I didn't have this girl, I would probably have at least 53 grey hairs by now.

the Lord is good. and His promise that He loves us is a bigger gift than any bundle of joy could ever be. yet he blessed us with this little hiccuping bean inside my body, and i couldn't be more full gratitude. so there we have it, 15 weeks. eating like crazy :)

happy tuesday

hoping that you have a splendidly amazing tuesday.

i drew this little fox last night, and i just had to share him with you..
now, what should his name be?